Traders Buy Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) on Weakness

Investors purchased shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) on weakness during trading on Wednesday. $170.94 million flowed into the stock on the tick-up and $80.82 million flowed out of the stock on the tick-down, for a money net flow of $90.12 million into the stock. Of all equities tracked, Johnson & Johnson had the 2nd highest net in-flow for the day. Johnson & Johnson traded down ($0.95) for the day and closed at $123.90

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on JNJ. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $132.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $125.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 20th. Leerink Swann reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, July 20th. RBC Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $133.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, July 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $142.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday, July 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.04.

The firm has a market cap of $340.80 billion and a PE ratio of 23.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $121.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.95.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 19th. The company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $18.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.98 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post $6.69 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 5th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%.

In other news, CAO Ronald A. Kapusta sold 3,957 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.77, for a total transaction of $454,144.89. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,406,603.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Dominic J. Caruso sold 41,146 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.01, for a total value of $5,143,661.46. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 157,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,728,953.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Several hedge funds and institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. World Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. World Asset Management Inc now owns 307,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,637,000 after buying an additional 10,434 shares in the last quarter. San Francisco Sentry Investment Group CA boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. San Francisco Sentry Investment Group CA now owns 18,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,906,000 after buying an additional 842 shares in the last quarter. Spinnaker Trust boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 79,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,157,000 after buying an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 41,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,300,000 after buying an additional 2,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthTrust Fairport LLC boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Fairport LLC now owns 20,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,124,000 after buying an additional 746 shares in the last quarter.

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which is engaged in the research and development, manufacture and sale of a range of products in the healthcare field. The Company’s segments include Consumer, Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices. The Consumer segment includes a range of products used in the baby care, oral care, skin care, over-the-counter pharmaceutical, women’s health and wound care markets.